By P.K.Balachadran/Sunday Observer/Features
Colombo, November 3: The Bishnois, a community native to the Thar desert in the North Indian state of Rajasthan, are unique. Though they are generically classified as “Hindu”, their folk religion is very distinct. Besides being a mixture of Hinduism and Islam, it is all about environmental protection.
Fanatically devoted to the environment, the Bishnois would not spare anyone who kills, poaches or destroys their objects of worship such as the Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra Linn), the Chinkara (Gazelle benettii) or the Khejri tree (prosopis cineraria or Vanni Andara as it called in Sri Lanka).
The Bishnois and their commitment to these species came into national and international attention for the first time in modern times in October 1998 when the Bollywood star Salman Khan along with four others stars, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bhendre and Neelam Kothari, were accused of killing a Chinkara and a Blackbuck in Rajasthan during the shooting of the Hindi film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ on the night of October 1-2, 1998.
Eyewitness accounts given by two locals, Poonamchand Bishnoi and Chhogaram Bishnoi, led to the arrest of Salman Khan. Their complaint was that the actors were in a vehicle that night, with Salman Khan at the wheel. On spotting a herd of Blackbucks, Salman shot at and killed two of them. On being found out, the group sped away.
Salman was found guilty by a court and sentenced to five years in jail. Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre were acquitted. However, Salman spent only a week in jail. He obtained bail with some minor restrictions, perhaps because of his stardom. Earlier too, Salman had been accused of poaching a Chinkara and a Blackbuck in Bhawad village and Mathania villages in Rajasthan, only to be acquitted.
Excitement over the 1998 slaughter of the blackbucks died out. But it was raised again in October 2024. A notorious new gangster, 31- year old Lawrence Bishnoi, was trying to kill Salman Khan in revenge for the killing of the two Blackbucks way back in 1998. Though in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for many murders and extortions, Lawrence Bishnoi ordered his lackeys to Mumbai to kill Salman. But an attempt made near Salman’s house failed.
However, soon after, Lawrence Bishnoi’s hitmen killed Baba Siddiqui, a bosom fried of Salman’s and a prominent anti-Bharatiya Janata Party Maharashtra politician in Mumbai. Bishnoi’s henchman warned that Siddique’s killing was actually a warning to Salman.
Knowing the gravity of the threat, appeals were made to Salman from sections of the Bishnoi community to issue an apology for the killing of the blackbucks. But stubborn as he is, Salman would not oblige, because according to him, he was not guilty and that the forest department was exploiting his celebrity status to get publicity for itself.
As for gangster Lawrence, few are taken in by his sudden devotion to the cause of the Blackbucks. He pretends to be a devout Hindu, always sporting a red vermillion mark on his forehead and uttering the name of Lord Rama. But he is anything but holy. His gang had murdered a prominent rapper and Congress party supporter, Sidhu Moosewala. What is worse, while pretending to be an Indian nationalist, he has been in league with Sikh separatist gangsters both in Punjab and Canada, like the notorious Canada-based Goldie Brar.
The Canadian government suspects that Lawrence arranged henchmen to kill the Sikh terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June 2023. Canada went to the extent of alleging that Lawrence Bishnoi was a hatchet man of the Indian government which was allegedy targeting Sikh terrorists in Canada. The Indian government denied this, pointing out that Lawrence Bishnoi was in jail in India for multiple crimes.
Cause of Bishnois eclipsed
As all attention shifted to celebrity Salman Khan and a wannabe celebrity Lawrence Bishnoi, the concerns of the Bishnoi community, their cause of protecting the blackbuck have been forgotten. This is a pity as the Bishnois have been doggedly protecting the Blackbuck and their khejri trees for centuries, even assaulting and killing poachers in the process.
The Bishnois live in the Thar desert, where vegetation and water are very scarce. Since time immemorial, they have cared for the preservation of the flora and fauna of their habitat, particularly the Blackbuck and the Khejri tree native to their area.
Researchers Amir Sohel and Farhat Naz, say that ecological consciousness was instilled in the Bishnois by the 15 th, Century guru, Maharaja Jambheshwar, popularly known as Jambhoji.
Legend has it that it was in 1485, that Jambhoji founded the Bishnoi sect of Hinduism in the Marwar region of Rajasthan. Although the Bishnoi are today recognized as Hindus, they were unorthodox, and were recorded as Muslims until the 1891 Census in Marwar. They practiced both Hindu and Muslim rites.
The name “Bishnoi” derives from “Bish” or “Bis” which means twenty, and “Noi” which means nine in Hindi. “Bishnoi” alludes to the 29 edicts of Guru Jambhoji. These edicts told the community how to live harmoniously with nature in the harsh climatic conditions of the Thar Desert. Notable among these edicts were two: Do not cut green trees and be compassionate toward all living beings. Jambhoji had experienced severe droughts with tragic consequences for humans and animals alike.
A cataclysmic and landmark incident took place in 1730, which led to an acute awareness of environmental issues. Maharaja Abhay Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, needed timber to construct the new royal palace, he sent soldiers to the Bishnoi village of Khejarli with orders to cut numerous Khejri trees, sacred to the Bishnois. On 11 September 1730, Giridhar Bhandari, a representative of Maharaja Abhay Singh, arrived in Khejarli with an army to cut the trees. When Amrita Devi Bishnoi, a resident of the village, was alerted, she and her daughters attempted to prevent the soldiers from cutting down the trees by hugging the trees, They proclaimed: “If a tree is saved even at the cost of one’s head, it is worth it.” But Bhandari’s men slayed over 300 Bishnois mercilessly.
When the Maharaja learned of the massacre, he ordered the woodcutting operation to be halted and apologized for the deaths. He also granted state protection for the Bishnois. To honour the legacy of the Bishnoi’s sacrifice, the government of India established the Amrita Devi Wildlife Protection Award (ADWPA) in 2000. And in 2013, September 11 was designated National Forest Martyrs Day.
Today, the Bishnoi community faces multiple environmental pressures such as deforestation and biodiversity loss, depletion of groundwater, aggressive mining, poaching, and land-grabbing. While the Bishnois are doing their best to avoid degradation of their habitat the odds are heavily staked against them in the emerging development and profit-oriented era.
Johra Ram, head of the Bishnoi community, told environmental scholar Durgadas Mukhopadhyaya: “Any change in the world has to begin within society. All this talk about nature and wildlife protection would be effective if each individual was to believe in the earth as a living, breathing, entity and fight for its survival the way we do.”
Mukhopadhyaya describes the Bishnois as people living in harmony with nature where they maintain groves, locally known as Orans, where animals graze and birds feed.
“Orans serve as important rechargers of rainwater in the desert aquifers, where every single drop of water is precious. It is estimated that orans account for about 9% of the desert area. Here, the tree species, Prosopis cineraria or Khejri, is worshipped for its immense ecological value.”
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